Opening a Pet Store: 9 Mistakes To Avoid

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Opening a pet store is exciting, but there are common mistakes that can get in the way of your success. From choosing the wrong location to mismanaging your inventory, these missteps can be costly.

Let's dive into the top nine mistakes to avoid so your pet store can thrive from day one.

1. Lack of Market Research

Market research is one of the most important things you can do when starting your small pet shop. Unfortunately, it’s often overlooked by small business owners when they’re starting their stores.

Conducting market research is simple and directly benefits your pet shop. Here are a few ways you can start you research:

See what other pet shops are selling around you and observe how they’re marketing their store.
Ask other pet owners what they like and dislike about the current pet shop they go to.
Read articles and blogs about how to properly run your pet store.
Research popular pet products and brands to sell once you open.

Following these simple tips on market research puts you ahead of the competition because you can learn from their successes and mistakes. By conducting market research before opening a pet store, you save months or even years of growing pains.

During your market research, you can also better understand who your target customers are. Do most pet owners own cats rather than dogs? What’s important to pet owners in your area? These are questions you can answer about your customers before even opening your doors.

Don’t make the mistake of underestimating market research before opening your pet store.

2. Underestimating Startup Costs

Imagine this: You've picked the perfect location, stocked your shelves with the best products, and are ready to open your pet store. But suddenly, unexpected bills start rolling in, draining your budget and leaving you scrambling for funds.

This is the harsh reality for many new pet store owners who underestimate the true costs of starting their business. Don't let this be your story. Before opening your store, you need to understand how much running your pet store is going to cost.

Here are common expenses business owners look over when they’re calculating their startup costs:

Initial inventory
Lease and utilities
Store fixtures and equipment
Licensing and permits
Marketing and advertising
Employee wages and training
Insurance
Technology and software
Unexpected costs like repairs

As your pet store grows, these costs will change. However, you need to make sure you have a good idea of what everything will cost as you’re opening your pet store.

Running out of funds is dangerous — especially for a new small business. Make a detailed budget plan before you open your doors and make sure you adhere to it. Not only will it keep you out of debt, but it will help you save money for your pet store when you have unexpected costs.

3. Poor Location Choice

“Location, location, location.” We’ve all heard it, but what does it mean? Simply put, location matters — a lot. Where you decide to open your pet store is a big decision. You want it to be in a relevant and convenient place.

Opening a pet store in the most cost-efficient location doesn’t always make the most sense. Imagine you own a pet store that’s far away from other commercial businesses. It’s hard to get to and feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere.

That’s not a good place to put a pet store — even if it is cheap. Now, think about this: There’s a small pet store in a strip mall. The strip mall is close to other commercial buildings so you won’t have to go out of your way to get there.

This is a great place to put a pet store. Even if it does cost a little more to rent, you’ll get more customers coming into your store — which means you’ll make more money.

You’ll probably have options when it comes to your pet store’s location, but remember what makes most sense for your customers and your business. If you keep that in mind, you’re sure to find success.

4. Ignoring Inventory Management

Inventory management takes a lot of brain power — especially if you’re doing it manually. Things can get disorganized quickly in a pet store. Think about all of the different products you’re going to sell to a huge variety of animal lovers — there’s a lot!

You need to manage your inventory in a way that makes sense for a pet store. Keep things organized so that you, your employees, and your customers can easily find what you need.

Don’t make inventory management too difficult. Automate the process as much as possible so you don’t have to take on as much operational stress. To do this, find an inventory management system that’s made specifically for pet stores like yours.

Inventory management can get messy if you don’t have the right tools. Do your research and find a software that’s easy to use and makes sense for your pet store. Having the right software from the beginning makes opening a pet store so much easier.

5. Neglecting Customer Experience

Even when you’re just about to open a pet store, you need to keep the customers’ experience in mind. You and your employees should be trained on the dos and don'ts of customer service.

Opening day is exciting, but it can also be stressful. Issues are bound to happen. Understand that you might get some frustrated customers, but be patient. Answering their questions with a smile on your face goes a long way.

Even after opening day, always remember to keep your customers at the top of mind. You both want what’s best for their pets. If you offer exceptional customer service, you can connect more with your customers and their pets. Ultimately, you’ll gain a huge amount of loyal customers.

6. Overlooking Online Presence

These days, you can’t ignore the web. An online presence can take your small pet business to a whole new level. Before opening your pet store, create social media accounts and an e-commerce site, so you can boost your online presence from the start.

It’s important to stay active on your social media accounts. Make sure you or one of your employees are posting and responding to direct messages or comments on a regular basis. This is a whole new way you can connect with your target customers.

Running an e-commerce site doesn’t have to be hard. Make sure your point of sale (POS) system is connected to your pet store’s website so that you have live data and can keep track of your store in real time.

An online presence is another way to boost your pet store sales. Gain momentum from the beginning. Opening a pet store can be difficult at times, but it’s a lot easier with an e-commerce site and a social media presence.

7. Failing To Implement a Loyalty Program

As a pet store owner, you’re going to have loyal customers. These people deeply care for their pets and want to give them the best products and care. This is exactly why having a loyalty program will benefit not only your customers, but your bottom line.

It’s important to set up your loyalty program before opening your pet store because it will start drawing in customers right away. Astro Loyalty is a popular company in the pet industry that makes managing your loyalty program seamless.

Make sure your POS system integrates with Astro Loyalty — or whatever loyalty program you choose — so that you don’t have to take on all of the operational stress. This way, you can sit back and watch your customers flow in and get excited to rack up their loyalty points.

Running a customer loyalty program will most likely save your pet store money in the long run. Loyalty programs not only draw in new customers, but also help keep your existing customers coming back.

Opening a pet store with a loyalty program already set in place will boost your success from the beginning. You don’t want to wait to start a loyalty program — now is the right time.

8. Insufficient Marketing Efforts

You can’t run a successful business without proper marketing. Especially on opening day, you want to get the word out about your new pet store and reach as many people from your target market as possible.

One way you can market your pet store is by posting on social media. Your target audience doesn’t have to follow you to see your organic content. For example, on TikTok and Instagram, users are fed videos that resonate with them based on likes and location.

You can also purchase ad space on social media to ensure that your content is getting in front of the right people. Although this is an extra cost for your pet store, it’s worth it in the end if you launch the right ads.

As customers come into your pet store, you want to get their emails and phone numbers so you can send them marketing communications. SMS and email marketing are great ways to share information about new deals, products, and services.

You can also market your pet store by becoming a part of the community. You can put banner ads or flyers in public spaces or join big city events to ensure that everyone in the community knows about your new pet store.

Don’t push marketing to the side — it’s essential for success. As your business grows, your marketing efforts will change. Always revisit your marketing plan and tweak it as your pet store changes and expands.

Related Read: 7 Marketing Ideas for Pet Stores

9. Not Utilizing Technology

You don’t have to run your pet business with a pen and paper anymore. Luckily, there’s pet-specific technology that helps you with virtually every aspect of your business operations. You just need to find the right software.

When looking for a POS or inventory management system, make sure that it runs smoothly with your pet store. You shouldn’t have to find loopholes or roundabout ways to use a software. An inventory management system that’s made specifically for pet stores will have a preloaded catalog that will make it easy to add and remove products from your inventory.

You also don’t need to have multiple softwares in your store. A solid business software won’t just run your point of sale, it will connect with your website, run your loyalty program, and manage your inventory.

Know that there's software out there that will make it easier to run your pet store. Do your research and you’ll find the right solution in no time.

Opening a Pet Store with eTailPet: Avoid These Mistakes

Opening a pet store can be overwhelming — you shouldn’t have to worry about running all of your business operations manually.

eTailPet is an all-in-one POS system that makes opening a pet store easier than ever before. Not only does it track your payments, it also manages your inventory. With a preloaded catalog of popular pet products, you can easily add to your inventory with just a click of a button.

Astro Loyalty integrates with eTailPet so that you can easily run and manage your customer loyalty program without the heavy lifting.

E-commerce is important, too, which is why your POS system and website are connected with eTailPet. Get live sales and inventory data from your brick-and-mortar store and your website.

You can also easily market to your customers through SMS and email marketing. Connect with your customers and send them messages about deals and promotions right away — and you can generate and respond to Google reviews, so you can get and keep your five-star rating.

Opening a pet store is so much simpler with the right tools. Remember to always avoid these mistakes:

Lack of marketing research
Underestimating startup costs
Poor location choice
Ignoring inventory management
Neglecting customer experience
Overlooking online presence
Failing to implement a loyalty program
Insufficient marketing efforts
Not utilizing technology

eTailPet is made specifically for pet stores just like yours. Schedule a demo today and open your pet store with the right tools for success.